Headlines
12/04/12 8:30am

Headlines: Parking Meters on Washington Ave; Census Finds 812 Missing Houstonians

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3 Comments

Photo of The Art Guys’ “Situation Sculpture #1” at Airline Drive and East Whitney Street: Christopher Newsom via Swamplot Flickr Pool

Awards
12/03/12 4:14pm

Second Category in the Swampies: Best Demolition of 2012

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32 Comments

Earlier today, we introduced the first category in this year’s Swamplot Awards for Houston Real Estate, celebrating the best and most this city has to offer. And now nominations are open in a second category: Best Demolition.

Sure, demolitions are raw, physical acts, but emotional, historical, cultural, artistic, literary, sonic, and ecological aspects are often hard at work too. What property would you honor as Houston’s Best Demo of 2012 — and why?

If you’re like most people and have a little trouble remembering buildings once they’re gone, you can scroll through Swamplot’s archive of demolition stories to refresh your memory. Then add your thoughtful and well-argued nominations for this coveted award to the comments section below — or send them in a private message to Swamplot HQ. For a more thorough description of the nominating process, see these instructions.

Nominations for both award categories announced today will remain open until midnight this Sunday, December 9. But why wait until the last minute to submit your nominations? Couldn’t you knock a few out now?

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Houston Heights
12/03/12 3:36pm

Why the Newest Bar in Houston Isn’t a Bar

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9 Comments

A sudsy education center for the “beer curious,” Premium Draught tore the butcher paper from its windows and started pouring this week at 733 Studewood, the former Kaboom Books spot. The store shares a Heights strip center with the high-usage Antidote — and also shares the intersection of Studewood and East 7th 1/2 8th with the recently opened Sonoma Wine Bar. Premium Draught owner Johnny Orr realized he might have to rethink his plans to build the usual sit-and-stay-awhile bar. “After taking a look at the demographics of the surrounding neighborhood,” he tells Swamplot, “we opted to pursue this beer for carry-out business model instead. Parking in this town and in the immediate neighborhood around the store is minimal. As the White Oak corridor continues to develop we wanted to try and avoid the type of mess that has occurred on Washington. . . . The Heights did not need late night bar traffic clogging the streets.”

Photo: Allyn West

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Comments
12/03/12 2:47pm

Comment of the Day: How Your Tiny Neighborhood Can Capture a Big Swamplot Award

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7 Comments

COMMENT OF THE DAY: HOW YOUR TINY NEIGHBORHOOD CAN CAPTURE A BIG SWAMPLOT AWARD “Attention HOAs: Do not send out your end of the year email until the nominations for best neighborhood are in so you can order your members to stuff the ballot box. It keeps the category interesting each year to learn about some small hamlet of a neighborhood that has managed to keep things together through all of Houston’s booms and busts. Otherwise, it would just be an annual Heights v. Midtown grudge match.” [Old School, commenting on The 2012 Swamplot Awards for Houston Real Estate Begin Now]

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Notices
12/03/12 2:17pm

First Category: Your Nominations for Favorite Houston Design Cliché, Please

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55 Comments

This is how it begins. We now kick off the nominating process for the 2012 Swamplot Awards for Houston Real Estate with a category that’s been included in every edition of the Swampies since 2008: Favorite Houston Design Cliché. The winner has been different every year. Last year’s winner was “Lick ’n’ stick” fake-rock siding. (The runner-up: The New Charlestorleans Style.) In previous years we’ve had Lone Stars, “Lakes of” Subdivisions, and “Tuscanization” receive the award. What Houston building, shopping center, streetscape, home, interior, neighborhood, or yard cliché deserves recognition this year? Your suggestions for this award may be inspired from stories on Swamplot or from your own keen eye for overused detail.

Nominations for this category are now open to your brilliant, clever, or possibly hackneyed suggestions! Enter your choice in a comment to this post only or — more privately — in an email to the Swamplot tip line, with the subject line “Nomination: Favorite Houston Design Cliche.” Nominations will be accepted for one full week, after which the best-presented choices will be opened for voting.

You can submit as many nominations as you like in this category, but your choices will have a better chance of succeeding if you use the opportunity to make your point in a clever and convincing way. When the actual awards are open for voting — next week! — each selected nomination will be introduced with some edited bastardization of the arguments made by the readers who submitted them. So be eloquent and persuasive! If you can send your own photos in support of a nomination, that will help a lot — and it’ll likely help you make your case to voters. Send images to the Swamplot tip line, but be sure to identify them and indicate what they’re for.

Comments to this post will be counted as nominations only. Nominations may be seconded, expanded, or improved. Even simple “me too” posts could help an entry find a place on the actual ballot, but they won’t be counted as votes for the winner. The actual voting in this category will begin next week. Are you ready? Send us your favorite clichés!

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Avondale
12/03/12 12:17pm

A Sterling Example in Avondale Historic District

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18 Comments

The asking price of a property in the Avondale (West) Historic District has been dropping $500 per day since its latest relisting on Thanksgiving Day. A pre-holiday hiatus had capped a 2-year sales effort at several price points by various agents and agencies. The 1910 home and grounds are described as part of the estate of Ross Sterling, a former governor of Texas (1931-32) and founder of Humble Oil, which later became the far humbler ExxonMobil.

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

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Awards
12/03/12 10:22am

The 2012 Swamplot Awards for Houston Real Estate Begin Now

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5 Comments

Yes, it is that time of the year. Swamplot’s annual end-of-the-year review of the best, most, and much too much of Houston’s local real-estate scene begins this week. Are you ready to help select the winners?

All this month we’ll be hosting the fifth annual Swamplot Awards for Houston Real Estate — the Swampies. This year there will be 7 categories, honoring the designs, developments, neighborhoods, personalities, dreams, and absurdities that continue to make Houston real estate so entertaining. Today we’ll announce 2 of them; we’ll continue with the remaining categories over the rest of this week.

To make the Swampies work — and more important, to make them fun — we need your help. It’s always been our readers’ discerning vision, clever coinages, and careful consideration that have made the awards into a great local attraction. This year is no different. For each category, we need your help to come up with the right slate of official nominees. You be the judge: What was notable in 2012? What caught your eye and wouldn’t let go? What valiant efforts deserve recognition? And what brilliant comments can you add to encapsulate the story?

The Swampies belong to you. All nominations and votes will come from Swamplot readers. We hope you’ll join in the fun!

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Headlines
12/03/12 8:30am

Headlines: Robertson Stadium Demo Begins; Harris County’s Toll Road ‘Bank’

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Photo of Southwest Fwy. feeder: elnina via Swamplot Flickr Pool

Cedar Lawn
11/30/12 12:54pm

Comment of the Day: The House Hunter

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19 Comments

COMMENT OF THE DAY: THE HOUSE HUNTER “I’m glad I took my other 120 trophies out of the house for you. Judging by the times of the post, I see most are either jobless or on ya’lls smoke break. Obviously fans of the all too many tract home and Kirklands decor, you obviously know nothing about decorating and fine antiques. Reproductions?? Really please to be upset that a table cost more than your car . . . it’s ok . . . AHH time to go hunting . . . you guys clock back in and go to work. If you guys have any special request for new mounts, let me know and I’ll shoot one for you :)” [safari jack, commenting on Exploring the Indoor Wildlife in a Pasadena Dead Animal House]

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Demolitions
11/30/12 12:34pm

Madness, Mayhem, and Demolition at the Highland Village Tootsies Spot

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8 Comments

Workers at the Highland Village Shopping Center appear to be doing some demo work to the vacant building at 4045 Westheimer, a reader notes: They’re removing bricks from the parapet wall of the front facade. The dramatic Mod overhang that once wrapped the front and framed the entrance of Tootsies is gone. The building has been without a tenant since the upscale boutique left for Upper Kirby 2 years ago. A year before that, as Tootsies announced its move to West Ave, Highland Village owner Haidar Barbouti said he planned to tear down the building and build a 100,000-sq.-ft. multi-level retail space — with underground parking — in its place.

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

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Commercial Real Estate
11/30/12 10:57am

Owner of 3400 Montrose Says It’s in Deep Financial Trouble

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8 Comments

Those of you waiting with bated breath for the renovation, redevelopment, or removal of the 1950s-era office building at 3400 Montrose Blvd. (across Hawthorne St. from the Montrose Kroger): keep on bating. The company that bought the vacant 10-story building last September has told its 500 Israeli investors that its operations in Israel and Houston are both “in dire financial straits,” according to a report in Israeli newspaper Haaretz.

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

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Headlines
11/30/12 8:30am

Headlines: Gas-Powered Houzes for Independence Heights; Burying Utilities on Westheimer

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2 Comments

Photo of Gessner Rd. by Memorial City Mall: elnina via Swamplot Flickr Pool

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